Jesus didn't sign up with any one party

Published: Monday, August 6, 2012 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, August 2, 2012 at 5:08 p.m.

Jesus Christ: Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or Socialist? The answer, of course, is none of the above, and, paradoxically, all of the above.

Knowing this, many politicians have courted the followers of the Great Unseen, hoping to garner support from “good Christian people” (and any other brand of religious people they can sweep into the net) to lend moral credibility to their own political agendas.

That’s how you wind up with the CEOs of giant defense and munitions corporations (which specialize in the destruction of human life) publicly vowing allegiance to the party that defends the moral law of God, while privately funding all candidates so that whichever party happens to win is already in their debt.

So where does God stand in the political spectrum? To pretend that any of us knows the answer to that question falls somewhere between presumption and grandstanding; yet amazingly, politicians do it all the time.

Recent elections have given the Republican Party another chance to address the concerns that are most pressing to the vast majority of Americans, namely job creation and the economy. Oddly enough, those vital issues have been pushed to the back burner again to resurrect older issues that many voters believed had already been settled, such as abortion rights, contraception and same-sex marriage.

Here’s the deal: As important as these concerns are to some people, if circling the wagons around them for more than 40 years hasn’t resolved them yet, why pick now to resurrect them when so many out-of-work Americans need legislators to work on creating jobs?

At the same time, our aging national infrastructure is in desperate need of refurbishing. If marrying these two needs helped bring America out of the Great Depression of the 1930s, why not try it again? (But doing it now would mean Barack Obama would get the credit, and we mustn’t allow that.)

Since several Republican legislators insist on hauling out unanswerable questions, let’s consider a few questions that speak to the needs of average Americans, not just the privileged few who don’t have to worry about losing pensions or paying for health insurance and college tuitions.

(1) Abortion. Why is it that when an unplanned baby is born to the poor, the addicted, the unwed teenager or the mentally ill, the social services safety net the mother will need to sustain her baby isn’t nearly as important as it was for this child to be born? Are not the babies of the poor and the disenfranchised as important as the handicapped children of Sarah Palin and Rick Santorum?

(2) Same-sex marriage. Why are our elected representatives so busy trying to keep same-sex couples out of bed together that they have no time to deal with politicians “in bed” with lobbyists, promoting corporate agendas that work against the interests of the American people?

I’d like those who insist that homosexuals are a debasing influence on society to explain how two people living together and minding their own business are more dangerous to society than corporate CEOs and banker/gangsters who have robbed literally thousands of Americans of retirement accounts, college funds, home equity, investments and savings, and have not been called to account for it.

(3) Cheating. Why is it unethical for me to cheat on my tax return, but it’s all right for a political party to disenfranchise legitimately registered voters by purging their names from voting records (there’s a class-action lawsuit in Florida over this very thing right now), and to rig voting machines during important elections (Google: Diebold)?

(4) Whatever happened to “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”? It’s hard to imagine Jesus Christ as the Grover Norquist version of Robin Hood, robbing the poor so the rich can be comfortably insulated from the needs of struggling people around them. In fact, I think he said something about loving your neighbor as you love yourself (a political hot potato if ever there was one because it doesn’t minimize costs for the rich).

A popular acronym Christians sometimes wear on bracelets and sweatshirts asks, WWJD or “What would Jesus do?” Most of us ordinary Americans would like our legislators to simply do their job and start working for us instead of fighting with each other.

Jesus didn’t sign up with any of the main political parties of his day. Nor did he try to buy Roman citizenship. Instead, he expressly instructed his followers that his kingdom was “not of this world.” In fact, Jesus Christ was consistently apolitical. He refused to allow the greed and grasping of politics to tarnish what He had to offer.

There is enlightened wisdom behind the Founding Fathers’ insistence on separation of church and state in the First Amendment. They were living witnesses of the devastating consequences of the French Revolution of 1789, caused in no small part by centuries of abuse by manipulative politicians who donned religious robes to cloak their personal ambitions. (Google: Cardinal Richelieu.)

I’m not the best Christian I know. Nor am I the worst. I’m right there struggling beside everyone else. But no matter how hard I try, I simply can’t wrap my head around the image of Jesus Christ as a Wall Street banker, a CEO of Exxon or BP, a lobbyist for an insurance company or a vulture capitalist.

<p>Jesus Christ: Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or Socialist? The answer, of course, is none of the above, and, paradoxically, all of the above.</p><p>Knowing this, many politicians have courted the followers of the Great Unseen, hoping to garner support from “good Christian people” (and any other brand of religious people they can sweep into the net) to lend moral credibility to their own political agendas.</p><p>That's how you wind up with the CEOs of giant defense and munitions corporations (which specialize in the destruction of human life) publicly vowing allegiance to the party that defends the moral law of God, while privately funding all candidates so that whichever party happens to win is already in their debt.</p><p>So where does God stand in the political spectrum? To pretend that any of us knows the answer to that question falls somewhere between presumption and grandstanding; yet amazingly, politicians do it all the time.</p><p>Recent elections have given the Republican Party another chance to address the concerns that are most pressing to the vast majority of Americans, namely job creation and the economy. Oddly enough, those vital issues have been pushed to the back burner again to resurrect older issues that many voters believed had already been settled, such as abortion rights, contraception and same-sex marriage.</p><p>Here's the deal: As important as these concerns are to some people, if circling the wagons around them for more than 40 years hasn't resolved them yet, why pick now to resurrect them when so many out-of-work Americans need legislators to work on creating jobs?</p><p>At the same time, our aging national infrastructure is in desperate need of refurbishing. If marrying these two needs helped bring America out of the Great Depression of the 1930s, why not try it again? (But doing it now would mean Barack Obama would get the credit, and we mustn't allow that.)</p><p>Since several Republican legislators insist on hauling out unanswerable questions, let's consider a few questions that speak to the needs of average Americans, not just the privileged few who don't have to worry about losing pensions or paying for health insurance and college tuitions.</p><p>(1) Abortion. Why is it that when an unplanned baby is born to the poor, the addicted, the unwed teenager or the mentally ill, the social services safety net the mother will need to sustain her baby isn't nearly as important as it was for this child to be born? Are not the babies of the poor and the disenfranchised as important as the handicapped children of Sarah Palin and Rick Santorum?</p><p>(2) Same-sex marriage. Why are our elected representatives so busy trying to keep same-sex couples out of bed together that they have no time to deal with politicians “in bed” with lobbyists, promoting corporate agendas that work against the interests of the American people?</p><p>I'd like those who insist that homosexuals are a debasing influence on society to explain how two people living together and minding their own business are more dangerous to society than corporate CEOs and banker/gangsters who have robbed literally thousands of Americans of retirement accounts, college funds, home equity, investments and savings, and have not been called to account for it.</p><p>(3) Cheating. Why is it unethical for me to cheat on my tax return, but it's all right for a political party to disenfranchise legitimately registered voters by purging their names from voting records (there's a class-action lawsuit in Florida over this very thing right now), and to rig voting machines during important elections (Google: Diebold)?</p><p>(4) Whatever happened to “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”? It's hard to imagine Jesus Christ as the Grover Norquist version of Robin Hood, robbing the poor so the rich can be comfortably insulated from the needs of struggling people around them. In fact, I think he said something about loving your neighbor as you love yourself (a political hot potato if ever there was one because it doesn't minimize costs for the rich).</p><p>A popular acronym Christians sometimes wear on bracelets and sweatshirts asks, WWJD or “What would Jesus do?” Most of us ordinary Americans would like our legislators to simply do their job and start working for us instead of fighting with each other.</p><p>Jesus didn't sign up with any of the main political parties of his day. Nor did he try to buy Roman citizenship. Instead, he expressly instructed his followers that his kingdom was “not of this world.” In fact, Jesus Christ was consistently apolitical. He refused to allow the greed and grasping of politics to tarnish what He had to offer.</p><p>There is enlightened wisdom behind the Founding Fathers' insistence on separation of church and state in the First Amendment. They were living witnesses of the devastating consequences of the French Revolution of 1789, caused in no small part by centuries of abuse by manipulative politicians who donned religious robes to cloak their personal ambitions. (Google: Cardinal Richelieu.)</p><p>I'm not the best Christian I know. Nor am I the worst. I'm right there struggling beside everyone else. But no matter how hard I try, I simply can't wrap my head around the image of Jesus Christ as a Wall Street banker, a CEO of Exxon or BP, a lobbyist for an insurance company or a vulture capitalist.</p><p>It just doesn't work for me.</p>